Vanuatu – a little grouping of 83 islands that won its independence in 1980 was our destination today. I’ve another tour booked today: “Discover the Blue Lagoon, Cascades & Swim with Turtles”. I’ve lucked out with a fun driver & guide who took 12 of us from the cruise ship port in 15-seater van around the island to first visit the Rarru Cascades, a natural series of flowing waterfalls. There’s a swimming hole at the end and 3 intrepid Aussies jumped in for a swim but most of us didn’t want to be sitting in the van in our soggy swimmers so we stuck with taking photos of the lovely park. Luckily there weren’t any other tourists here when we arrived so it was very peaceful with chirping birds and a breeze blowing through the thick jungle canopy.

Driving on to the Blue Lagoon we passed several cattle ranches and coconut farms, could still see damage from Cyclone Pam which blasted through 4 years ago as a Cat. 5 storm. Many trees are still barren with new leaves sprouting from tender new branches. The Blue Lagoon is a gorgeous pond of mixed fresh and salt water. It’s a popular site with lots of palapa-shaded picnic spots, easy concrete steps into the water, or the faster rope swing access! I took my goggles and found one could swim all the way out to the ocean, maybe 100m. A delightful visit.

Manu, our guide, chatted nonstop all about the history and local customs of these islands, ie. it’s customary to pay a settlement of pigs to a bride’s father, 5 if she’s a chief’s daughter or exceptionally pretty. Or about all the different uses of the Golden Web Spider’s silk (wound dressing).

Our last stop was Turtle Beach where they have a preservation program for turtles, we saw baby 18-month olds, could handle the 5 year olds, and fed the giant adults in the big pond. Our bbq lunch was at the same place and there was plenty of time to enjoy the hammocks or beach after.

Our return to the ship included a little tour of the main town of Port Vila with a stop for some duty free shopping then back to the ship, navigating dozens and dozens of vendors hawking their souvenirs.

Tonight there was a cocktail party for all the back-to-back passengers as a little “thank you for sailing with us”. The hoodies effectively killed our appetite so we all had a bowl of soup from the buffet as dinner, then headed back for the karaoke superfinale!